Yes, the lead up to the "asymmetrical success" was more than a year of studying and testing SEO every day, during which time I built and ranked on page one of Google a site in the internet marketing niche. The rewards were slow and uneven at first, and then they jumped sky high and exponentially.

The interesting thing is that my next "big one" came in 2013, was monetarily way more significant and required way less prep and lead up. I'd conclude that with time and investment of energy, we grow in potential and ability to use asymmetry and exponential rewards.